The regional and the local: elements of costume in the light of expressing identity of indigenous protohistoric communities

Costume and jewellery items are frequently affected by changes that sometimes reflect novelties in the production technique, the fashion of the given period, or foreign influences. In the case of indigenous protohistoric communities of the northern Eastern Adriatic, the use of traditional forms runs hand in hand with the integration of the new forms into local costume. It is precisely these traditional forms, which are sometimes used across several generations without major changes, that we may consider a particularly significant marker of affiliation to a specific community. In this, the way a new form was integrated into the indigenous costume is often very significant in the context of affiliation to a wider regional community, that is, specific combinations of elements of different origin lead to the creation of local costume types recognizable at a micro-regional level.